QE3 will only become a reality after the economy deteriorates

Although the economic slowdown we’ve been discussing in recent comments has now hit the headlines the stock market has resisted a major downturn. Fundamentally, strategists have offered two reasons for this reluctance. First, they maintain that the pause in economic growth is only temporary and second, they say that if the economy continues to falter the Fed will simply initiate yet another round of quantitative easing—-QE3. We think this seemingly consensus view will prove to be wrong on both counts. In our view it’s the economic recovery that is temporary while the deceleration of growth is real. As for another round of quantitative easing, Bernanke himself has indicated that the hurdles are very high and a number of other members of the FOMC sound as if they would be even more opposed.

There are a number of reasons to believe that the economic recovery itself has been temporary. The economy has been highly reliant on government stimulation, both fiscal and monetary. Not only is the fiscal stimulation now petering out, but as the acrimonious discussions in Washington indicate, fiscal policy is highly likely to become more restrictive from here on. Now QE2 is about to end as well. It is instructive that when QE1 ended in the spring of 2010, the market dropped 17% and the economy faltered. It was only with the announcement of QE2 that the market began to recover strongly and the economy perked up, although not by much. It is notable that with all of the massive stimulation, the economic recovery has been by far the weakest in the post-World War ll period.

We also point out that the economy has been kept afloat by artificially low interest rates, and that the Fed believes the economy is still so fragile that it is keeping rates low for an indefinite period. Additional major headwinds to economic growth are the moribund housing market, continued unresolved problems in commercial real estate and the desperate plight of state and local budgets.

In addition we question where this assumed resumption of growth is going to come from. In the past two decades the economy was sparked by consumers who spent far more than their income by running up record debts and converting house price appreciation into cash. Those days are over. If anything, consumers have to pare down debt, and that will be a tremendous burden on the already tepid economic recovery. We see no other segment of the economy that can pick up the slack.

We also think that QE3 is off the table under present circumstances. Although QE2 was successful in sparking stock prices, any addition to net worth has been at least offset by the resulting rise in commodity prices that have acted like a tax in reducing real household income. Another key consideration is that with the Fed balance sheet already having ballooned to about $2 trillion, any program that increases it even more makes it that much more difficult to exit when the time comes. In addition, any move to initiate QE3 is likely to meet substantial opposition in congress as well on the FOMC itself. And as Jon Hilsenrath pointed out in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal Bernanke has already indicated that the hurdle to more quantitative easing is very high.

This is not to say that QE3 is off the table forever. But QE3 will only become a reality after the economy deteriorates to a point where deflation again becomes a clear threat and most opposition to the program fades away. The problem is that, by that time, most portfolio managers will have thrown in the towel and the market will be far lower.

Comstock Partners, Inc. analyzes economic and financial conditions from a long-term macro-economic perspective and makes adjustments based on cyclical and shorter-term considerations. In pursuit of its goals, the firm invests in various asset classes including domestic and foreign stocks, bonds, currencies and derivatives including indices and options. For the Capital Value Fund, Comstock Partners can buy or sell short and make use of leverage in order to maximize returns under various market conditions. In effect, we believe our operation resembles a modern-day hedge fund in its scope of activities.

Utter and complete shambles. What on earth
is the point of QE: it just induces holders of Treasuries to take cash instead.
And there is not much difference between Treasuries and cash. As to Treasuries
that are near maturity, they are seen on Wall St as being near identical to
cash.

What’s the basic purpose of an economy?
Does anyone out there know the answer to this basic, simple question? I doubt
it. The purpose is to produce what consumers / households / customers want. So
if the economy is not producing enough, the answer is to provide consumers with
more of the stuff that enables them to get what they want. That stuff is called
“money”. Enabling consumers to BORROW more by donating billions to Wall Street
crooks and incompetents via QE is fatuous because consumers are already up to
their eyes in debt.

Agreed, Ralph. QE is bad policy and politically radioactive to boot. It saddens me that we have underemployment of 16% and we are talking about whether to counteract it or not by buying up treasury bonds from too big to fail banks. Clearly, the US is going nowhere if that’s the central economic policy debate about generating jobs.

ralph says 8 years ago

Utter and complete shambles. What on earth
is the point of QE: it just induces holders of Treasuries to take cash instead.
And there is not much difference between Treasuries and cash. As to Treasuries
that are near maturity, they are seen on Wall St as being near identical to
cash.

What’s the basic purpose of an economy?
Does anyone out there know the answer to this basic, simple question? I doubt
it. The purpose is to produce what consumers / households / customers want. So
if the economy is not producing enough, the answer is to provide consumers with
more of the stuff that enables them to get what they want. That stuff is called
“money”. Enabling consumers to BORROW more by donating billions to Wall Street
crooks and incompetents via QE is fatuous because consumers are already up to
their eyes in debt.

DOH!

ralph says 8 years ago

Utter and complete shambles. What on earth
is the point of QE: it just induces holders of Treasuries to take cash instead.
And there is not much difference between Treasuries and cash. As to Treasuries
that are near maturity, they are seen on Wall St as being near identical to
cash.

What’s the basic purpose of an economy?
Does anyone out there know the answer to this basic, simple question? I doubt
it. The purpose is to produce what consumers / households / customers want. So
if the economy is not producing enough, the answer is to provide consumers with
more of the stuff that enables them to get what they want. That stuff is called
“money”. Enabling consumers to BORROW more by donating billions to Wall Street
crooks and incompetents via QE is fatuous because consumers are already up to
their eyes in debt.

Agreed, Ralph. QE is bad policy and politically radioactive to boot. It saddens me that we have underemployment of 16% and we are talking about whether to counteract it or not by buying up treasury bonds from too big to fail banks. Clearly, the US is going nowhere if that’s the central economic policy debate about generating jobs.

Anonymous says 8 years ago

Is this the new macro investment meme?
1. Accumulate cash during QEx
2. Buy assets during the crash when QEx ends
3. Ride the asset price rise when QE x+1 starts
4. Sell 2/3’s of the way into QE x+1, and hold cash
5. rinse and repeat.

Anonymous says 8 years ago

Is this the new macro investment meme?
1. Accumulate cash during QEx
2. Buy assets during the crash when QEx ends
3. Ride the asset price rise when QE x+1 starts
4. Sell 2/3’s of the way into QE x+1, and hold cash
5. rinse and repeat.